Department of Water and Energy
Our role
The Department of Water and Energy (DWE) delivers the Government’s policy and reform agenda for the water and energy sectors in New South Wales.
The Department provides policy, legislative, regulatory, technical and management advice in relation to water and energy matters to the Minister for Water and the Minster for Energy. In addition to this advisory role DWE carries out a regulatory and enforcement function in both water and energy.
The specific activities of DWE are guided by:
- the legislation it administers;
- the Government’s policy and reform agenda; and
- the NSW State Plan, providing strategic direction for NSW with specific goals, priorities and targets across five themes. In particular, DWE is lead agency for the State Plan’s two priorities for water and energy.
Key results
DWE is a general government budget dependent agency working with water management, energy and urban water industries; Commonwealth and State government agencies; business, environmental and consumer groups and other stakeholders towards the following results:
Water Management
- Secure and sustainable allocation of water between communities, industry, farmers and the environment
Urban Water Utilities
- Urban water supplies are reliable and sustainable and services are well managed, efficient and equitable across New South Wales
Energy Supply and Use
- Energy supplies are reliable and sustainable, services are safe and efficient and vulnerable customers are supported.
Key services
Key services provided by DWE that contribute to achieving these results include:
Water Management
- Liaising with other States and the Commonwealth to ensure the interests of New South Wales are protected in interstate water sharing arrangements
- Preparing statutory plans to share water between users and the environment
- Administering water licences and approvals, assessing resource availability, allocating available water to licensees, monitoring compliance and, where necessary, taking appropriate enforcement action
- Developing and implementing water trading rules to support effective market operation
- Advising on plans and strategies for the protection and enhancement of watercourses, riparian corridors and groundwater dependent ecosystems
- Monitoring and evaluating water resource quantity and quality, and associated ecosystems
Urban Water Utilities
- Planning and policy and regulatory framework development for urban water industries and customers
- Coordination and review of the Metropolitan Water Plan
- Facilitating water recycling across New South Wales
- Leadership, guidance and technical assistance in best-practice management, operation and maintenance for non-metropolitan urban water utilities
- Overseeing and monitoring local water utility performance
- Funding for backlog water and sewerage infrastructure and emergency drought assistance
Energy Supply and Use
- Promoting and maintaining competition in energy markets
- Delivering the NSW Government’s commitments under the national reform agenda for energy, including harmonising the policy and regulatory frameworks for electricity and gas as far as possible.
- Electricity and gas network and licensed pipeline technical policy development, regulation and performance monitoring
- Promotion of renewable energy and energy standards and labelling schemes
- Maintaining a strong consumer protection framework but where possible bringing it into line with requirements in other States
- Developing and implementing nationally consistent state level planning, preparation, response and recovery policy and plans, for electricity, natural gas, liquid fuels and metropolitan water supply disruptions in NSW.